NonFiction
Exorcising Emma: a childhood memoir by Margot Peters. Famed biographer Peters writes about her own grandmother. Her grandmother was unpleasant. Peters mentioned to a library staffer that Peters only wrote the book after other relatives passed away to not have the family difficulties the story involves.
Logical family: a memoir by Armistead Maupin. Maupin spoke at an ALA conference I went to several years ago. He had some fascinating stories. He grew up in NC and worked as a reporter for Jesse Helms's newspaper. Maupin heard that a local bigwig was secretly gay and wanted to print the scoop. Helms said something to the effect of, "Oh no. You can never print anything so awful about a person. That is beyond the pale." Maupin, who is gay, was really struck by that. You can write a story about people who murder, rape, steal, rob, abuse children, cannibalize, etc. but saying someone is gay is too rough? (Actually, the Helms job may have been a TV station but the story remains the same otherwise.)
The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the winning of World War II by Winston Groom. Triple biography.
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